A&M-Corpus Christi Concludes Road Stretch Wednesday at UTEP

EL PASO, Texas – The longest road stretch of the season will wrap-up Wednesday when the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball program travels for an 8 p.m. (CT) tip at UTEP at the Don Haskins Center.
 
The game will be a Homecoming for junior Christian Villegas, an El Paso native that played high school ball at Andress HS. The point guard is coming off his first start of the season against LIU.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi has used a balance scoring attack as junior Dian Wright-Forde leads the way with 10.2 points per game, while senior Lance-Amir Paul averages 9.8 points per outing.
 
Junior Garry Clark is the team's leading rebounder with 8.2 per outing and also scores 7.3 points per game. He averaged a double-double of 10.0 points and 10.0 rebounds at the NKU Thanksgiving Tournament last week. Clark ranks second in the Southland Conference in offensive rebounding (3.5 orpg), third in rebounding (8.2 rpg) and fourth in steals (2.2 spg).
 
Junior Jordan Roberts leads the Southland Conference in three-point percentage with a .500 and puts in 7.7 points per outing.
 
As a team, A&M-Corpus Christi leads the SLC in rebounding margin (+8.7) and offensive rebounding (15.2 orpg). The team is second in scoring defense (69.5 ppg), field goal percentage (.446), field goal percentage defense (.411) and assists (16.5 apg).
 
The Islanders began the road trip with a hard fought 73-64 defeat at Texas Tech. A&M-Corpus Christi trimmed a 12-point deficit down to just two mid-way through the second half and was as close as 64-60 with under three minutes remaining. A&M-Corpus Christi grabbed more steals than Texas Tech (11-8), more offensive rebounds (13-12) and matched the number of blocks (5-5).
 
The Miners are off to a 5-2 start which includes a Power Five win 75-72 over Cal. Tae Hardy leads the squad with 16.0 points per game and shoots .455 (15-of-33) from beyond-the-arc. UTEP scores 83.4 points per game as a team.
 
The game can be watched live on ESPN+ and can also be heard for free on 1440 AM NewsTalk K-E-Y-S with Steven King on the call.
 
NOTES
The Islanders are going for the first win against UTEP since Feb. 18, 2003 in a 77-72 road victory. Last year, the Miners pulled out a tight 72-67 decision after trimming a 60-40 deficit down to 65-63 with 2:17 remaining.
 
- The Islanders have showcased their depth this season as 10 different Islanders have scored and seven have grabbed a rebound in every game.
 
- Offensively, the Islanders have surpassed the century mark twice in scoring in their two home games and have posted the two largest margin of victories in school history. The 65-point win over SWAU broke the program's previous margin of victory record of 58 set on Nov. 21, 2005 in a 116-58 win over Texas A&M-International. The Islanders also tied the school record for most field goals made in a game with 46 first set on Jan. 18, 2001 against Cal Poly.
 
- A&M-Corpus Christi is 18-0 over the last two seasons when holding the opposition to 70 points or less. The Islanders are 19-0 over the last three seasons when shooting over .500 FG%.
 
- The Islanders are one of six teams in the country to return zero total starts from last year along with Northwestern State, Notre Dame, Tulsa, UMBC and Utah State.
 
- The Islanders are one of nine teams in the nation who have student-athletes from 10 or more different states on their roster along with Navy, UW-Milwaukee, Missouri, Youngstown State, VMI, Louisville, Boston College and Richmond.
 
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